Remondis and Werner & Mertz cooperate on plastics recycling
Werner & Mertz and Remondis have joined forces under the umbrella of the “Recyclat-Initiative” to demonstrate how plastic cycles can be fully closed using practical application examples. The common goal is to establish sustainable material cycles and to use the recyclable material from the source “yellow bag” in Germany for this purpose.
During a joint press conference at Ifat, Reinhard Schneider, Managing Partner of Werner & Mertz, Herwart Wilms, Managing Director of Remondis, and Dr Nabila Rabanizada, Technical Manager for plastics recycling at Remondis, explained the path taken by the raw material from the yellow bag via the further developed mechanical processing back into the production cycle and into new sustainable packaging.
The panel participants also reiterated their demand for improved political framework conditions in the EU.
Reinhard Schneider, Managing Partner of Werner & Mertz: “The ‘Recyclat-Initiative’ of Werner & Mertz has proven that high-quality recyclate can be obtained from household collection. In order to compensate for the continuing lower prices for virgin material and to trigger high-quality applications for recycled raw materials in the sense of closed loops, I am campaigning for the introduction of a plastic tax on virgin material.”
Herwart Wilms, Managing Director of Remondis, added in this context that the introduction of a polluter-pays tax on non-recycled old plastic packaging, the so-called “plastic tax”, could only have the desired steering effect if it was used in a targeted manner: “In order to promote the recycling of plastics more strongly and make it a successful model with a worldwide exemplary character, the tax would have to be converted into a purpose-bound levy. Only in this way could sustainable production be promoted in a targeted way instead of using the tax money for other tasks.”
Both cooperation partners are working together to further optimise plastics recycling in Germany and Europe and to develop it into one of the key solutions for overcoming the global plastics crisis.
